Janani Suraksha Yojana (JSY)

Janani Suraksha Yojana (JSY)

Protection and the empowerment of the women in India has been one of the major government initiatives from a long time. So as a part of this motive the government of India launched the Janani Suraksha Yojana that is aimed at promoting safe motherhood intervention. Under this campaign the main objective will be to reduce the maternal and neo-natal mortality rate of the poor pregnant women, especially in the rural areas.

Janani Suraksha Yojana (JSY)

The scheme was launched in the year 2005 and since then it has been doing quite well in the country. The scheme has been implemented in all the states of the country so that all the women of the country could be reached out.

S.No Things which are need to know about Janani Suraksha Yojana Detailed Information
1 Scheme Name Janani Suraksha Yojana (JSY)
2 Who sponsoring this Scheme Central Government of India
3 When did the Scheme launched 12th April of 2005
4 Where did the scheme Janani Suraksha Yojana gets Implemented In States and UTs of India
5 Motive To reduce maternal and child mortality rates.

To promote properly organized institutional delivery among women, especially the once that belong to the lower income group or BPL category, the government provides financial assistance to the women who is pregnant for her delivery and post-delivery care and expenses. This scheme is a central government scheme and s funded by the central government on a whole.

The scheme runs under the National Rural Health Mission.

Features of the scheme

  • Under this scheme the accredited social health activist (ASHA) will be identified and they will help the government in making a link with the poor pregnant women of the rural areas and urban areas as well. Apart from this the Anganwadi workers will also be targeted to reach the poor and needy pregnant women. This will help the government is reaching the scheme’s target group and providing its services to the poor pregnant women.
  • The main and primary focus of the state was to reach out to the women of the state that were low on institutional delivery rates. Such states are referred to as the Low Performing States under the scheme and it included states like Uttaranchal, Uttar Pradesh, Bihar, Madhya Pradesh, Jharkhand, Assam, Rajasthan, Orissa, Chhattisgarh and Jammu & Kashmir.
  • Under this scheme the Anganwadis and the ASHA members will identify the pregnant women and carry out a registration process for the women under this scheme. The ASHA and Anganwadi will be responsible for taking care of the beneficiaries and help in receiving treatment.
  • The beneficiaries will be given a JSY (Janani Suraksha Yojana) card which will identify them for all the scheme benefits and facilities. They will be eligible for a minimum of two Antenatal Check-up under this scheme.
  • The beneficiaries who have BPL cards will be provided financial support. BPL certificate is not mandatory for the beneficiaries of the Low Performing State.
  • For the women who belong to the Low Performing State and come from a rural area get a coverage of Rs.1400. and the women who come from urban areas get a coverage of Rs.1000.
  • For the women who belong to a rural area of a High Performing state would get a coverage of Rs.700 and for the women that belongs to an urban area the coverage is Rs.600.
  • As a part of this scheme the ASHA and the Anganwadi members are also given incentives for each delivery that they perform. This is being done to encourage more members to join the scheme and to help more pregnant women.
  • In case any beneficiary does not take help from the ASHA members or the Anganwadi members and rather wants to go to a government hospital for her care and delivery then she will be given the money that she is supposed to get and also she should be given the incentive amount the ASHA or Anganwadi member gets.

Responsibilities of ASHA and other activists linked to this scheme

  • They would be responsible for identifying the beneficiaries and to help them register for this scheme. She has to make sure that all the required documents such as the JSY card is delivered to the beneficiary.
  • To make sure that the beneficiary gets proper treatment and receives at least three ANC checkups, and tablets during her pregnancy. The activists will be responsible for making the beneficiary understand the benefits of safe and institutional deliveries and about the need of breastfeeding the baby within one-hour of the delivery.
  • To be the beneficiary during delivery, until the time the women is discharged from the hospital. They would also be responsible for arranging immunization for the new born baby for the first 14 weeks.
  • To track the health of the mother after the delivery as taken place. 7 days post-delivery the activist should visit the mother.

The scheme so far

It has been quite few years that the scheme has been working in the country towards the betterment of pregnant women and to improve the maternal and neonatal health. A recent study shows that the scheme has shown some impressive results and has resulted in decreasing the socioeconomic disparities that were there in the field of maternal care.

It has been reported that there has been a remarkable increase in the utilization of organized health services in the women of the areas where the condition was really bad a few years ago. A lot of pregnant women of the rural areas who are poor and did not care to go to an organized medical institution for deliveries are now opting for one which shows that they mind set is changing.

Some reports have also shown that after the implementation of the Janani Suraksha Yojana there has been a reduction in the maternal mortality. Even though the socioeconomic inequality in using maternal care services has not reduced completely but then there is surely some difference that has come about in the past years. Like the people for the higher economic status the people of the lower economic status too have started to opt for organized maternal services.

With the help of this scheme the poor and the less educated mass of the country too have started to use proper medical facilities for the procedure of child birth. So one may say that this scheme, to a certain extent, has managed to be successfully in reaching its goals, but then there is sure a large way to go.

Conclusion:

It’s been over a decade the scheme runs successfully in all states of India, it is roughly estimated mate more than 100 lakh pregnant women gets benefited under this scheme on its initial launch of 2005-2006. Now there’s no doubt about raising question over the benefits of this scheme among the women particularly for the pregnant women who are from poor families and not able to afford finance support for their delivery.

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